Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir

by Tod Goldberg

The perfect holiday gift for the crime fiction lover in your life!

Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of twelve delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights.

This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of Hanukkah noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Festival of Lights.

Includes stories by David L. Ulin, Ivy Pochoda, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Jewish, Thriller, Holiday, Noir

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2024

About the author

Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books of fiction, notably the acclaimed Gangsterland quartet: Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; The Low Desert, a Southwest Book of the Year; and Gangsters Don’t Die, an Amazon Best Book of 2023 as well as a Southwest Book of the Year. Other works include The House of Secrets, which he co-authored with Brad Meltzer, and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His short fiction and essays have been anthologized widely, including in Best American Mystery & Suspense and Best American Essays, and appear regularly in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Alta. Tod Goldberg is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, where founded and directs the Low Residency MFA program in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts. His next novel, Only Way Out, will be released this fall from Thomas & Mercer.

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend got a kick out of this noir collection and gave it to me. I am going to review these stories occasionally, starting with J. R. Angelella's.

The title, Mi Shebeirach, we are told refers to a Jewish prayer of healing. This story is about “Molly Blaze” and how her world has progressively gotten small and worse. She is reduced to crime in order to pay for the pain meds which are the only way her husband can cope with his ailments. In this story, her latest “job” goes very wrong and we (and Molly) learn a lot about what it takes to right a sinking ship. Excellent storytelling!

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very interested by the concept of this book. I see countless new Christmas books every year, but so many fewer celebrating Chanukah. I didn’t mind that these stories were dark, I was actually quite interested in that, but some of the stories were a bit off for me. The stories I enjoyed the most seemed to end abruptly and leave me disappointed. I listened to the audiobook of this one and I did enjoy the narrators very much. I will say that this one made me think and I was interested in several of the stories. It was an interesting book and I hope it starts a trend of more diverse collections like this.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange)]

2.5 Stars
As someone who loves holiday themed dark fiction, I was interested to read this collection of Hanukkah inspired crime noir. For years, I've been saying that I wanted to read holiday fiction that wasn't specifically Christmas themed so it was great to finally fulfill that.

I appreciated the cultural references but I suspect some of the details went over my head as someone who is not Jewish. I would defer to the own voices reviewers to speak to the representation.

As a collection of short stories, some stories were better than others but I honestly didn't find any stories that I truly loved. Without the cultural/religious themes, I didn't feel the stories were strong enough to hold up on their own.

This is a collection that I appreciated reading but wanted to love more.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

As with all short story collections, there were some great stories and some not so great stories. If I had put this collection together I would have reorganized the stories. This book starts out with some boring stories and ends with more boredom and a 2 star read. The 5 stories in the middle starting with Twenty Centuries and ending with Dead Weight are the best in the collection but I almost didn't read them because I disliked the first 2 stories...I almost dnfed.

Overall I enjoyed this collection and I found some new authors to read in the future.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are an untold number of Christmas anthologies of murder, mayhem and crime and an even larger number of Christmas mystery novels, but poor Hanukkah doesn’t get even close to the same love. Now, thanks to crime writer Tod Goldberg, the festival of lights does!

This anthology prepared by Goldberg, contains not eight, but 11 tales of Hanukkah havoc. Unfortunately, nearly half of the short stories are mediocre or pointless. The best story is J.R. Angelella’s “Mi Sheberirach,” a tale quite fitting with the holiday. The other exceptions are Stepanie Leder’s “Not a Dinner Party Person,” Tod Goldberg’s titular “Eight Very Bad Nights,” “If I Were a Rich Man” by Lee Goldberg (Tod’s brother), James D.F. Hannah’s “Twenty Centuries” and Jim Ruland’s “The Demo.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Soho Press and Soho Crime in exchange for an honest review.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johnny Christmas, the first story, was great!
Then, I made it to the fourth story “If I Were a Rich Man” and that’s where I had to pump the breaks on this one.
I was like what just happened here?
Insert the BROWN CHICKEN BROWN COW music, if ya know what I’m sayin’!
I was expecting to read Hanukkah noir stories but this one I didn’t sign up for. There were probably more good stories I missed after this one but you know what they say about one bad apple. Too many other good books to read right now to take a chance spending any more time on this one.
Thanks for reading!

[Esme · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐

The concept for this sounded really interesting which is why I picked it up. Now the execution of the book leaves a lot to be desired. In all cases with a collection of short stories it's hard to find consistency in the stories. The book started strong and then it hit a bit of a slow patch in the middle and then ended strong. Some stories were really great and I really enjoyed them and then others felt like they shouldn't have been in the book. I did skip the story "If I Were a Rich Man" by Lee Goldberg since it was just excessive sexual content.

I honestly found myself slightly disappointed with the lack of Hanukkah in some of the stories since it's meant to be "Hannukah Noir". It was also a lot more spicy than I expected to be which did affect my rating a bit. I do think this will find an audience but unfortunately I wasn't a fan.

All narrators were great in here, they all did a great job!

Thank you Netgalley and RBmedia for an audio arc! All opinions are my own.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★ 1/2

I suspected that I was going to enjoy this short story collection when I read the forward by Tod Goldberg, the editor of the collection. Here's how it starts:

There's an old bromide in crime fiction that says there's only four ways a person can die: homicide, suicide, natural causes, or an accident. Maybe that's true. But for anyone who has managed to spend Hanukkah with their extended family, they would argue that there's also a fifth way: habitual annoyance.

A few common themes that run through most of the stories: they're dark, the main characters are largely unlikable (some more than others), many are operating on the wrong side of the law, and they all live, work and survive in challenging societal situations.

Johnny Christmas by Ivy Pochoda ★★★★
An eerie coincidence with a mystery solved by the end of the story.

Shamash by David L. Ulin ★★★
Sad family drama about the quality of life and the choices we make.

Twenty Centuries by James D.F. Hannah ★★★★
Small Town police procedural with commentary about identity.

If I Were A Rich Man by Lee Goldberg ★★★★★
A dark story about the search for buried treasure. Lee Goldberg's writing is terrific and his unlikable characters are ones you root for.

Come Let Us Kiss and Part by Nikki Dolson ★★★
A story about how far people will go for a fresh start.

Mi Shebeirach by J.R. Angelella ★★★★
A getaway driver breaks her own rules but ends up saving herself. Unexpected.

Dead Weight by Liska Jacobs ★★ 1/2
An unhinged woman revenge story. She loves her cat which gives her and extra 1/2 star from me.

Lighting the Remora by Gaino Iglesias ★★★
Someone who has never lost a fight goes up against someone who has never lost a fight. A David and Goliath battle.

Not A Dinner Party Person by Stefanie Leder ★★★★
Sociopathic pharmaceutical rep tries to get through Hannukah. It's not a spoiler to say that she doesn't succeed. I love an unhinged female main character.

The Demo by Jim Ruland ★★★
Justice delivered in a round about way at an indie music recording label.

Eight Very Bad Nights by Tod Goldberg ★★★★
Dark, funny and well written. Former weatherman goes rogue to save the family business.

This has a rather low rating on Goodreads but I have to say, I really enjoyed the collection.  I will say again however, that it is dark crime so think things like reading from the perspective of a serial killer and/or gratuitous violence. This is not cozy.

I'm not Jewish so cannot comment on the accuracy of the Hanukkah representation.  I will leave that to own voices reviewers.

This is also the first book in my 2026 Read My Hoard Challenge.

[Kelly NuclearFiction]

DNF - Dark Hanukkah, Jewish representation- YES PLEASE! But woof I did not care at all. Only made it 30% in. Not in the mood for boredom.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

oooh, this one was a surprise. I wasn't sure what I was getting in to - cozy mysteries? I haven't read a Hanukkah based anthology before and I was excited and interested to learn more!

But this one was darker and grittier than I had first thought. The stories were varied and the plots were interesting. Most took place during Hanukkah but didn't have too much to do with each day. I did this as an audio and I thought the narrators did a great job of really putting the emotion and shock in each story. I enjoyed these!

[Sharon]

A terribly disappointing collection that I so badly wanted to love.

The only two stories I could genuinely say I enjoyed were "Not a Dinner Party Person" by Stefanie Leder and the titular story by Tod Goldberg.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice idea but a lot of the stories didn't really work for me. I did enjoy Mi Shebeirach and Dead Weight

[Andrea Frazee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 book

[Angie Boyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun idea, uneven quality
This book sounded like fun! The only author I was familiar with was Lee Goldberg, but I have enjoyed a number of his books, so I was looking forward to a good read. I’m sorry to say I was overall rather disappointed.
Some of the stories have little or nothing to do with Hanukkah except for the time of year, but some weave in the traditions nicely, such as the story Shamash, which is both a candle used to help light the menorah and a sexton who helps with synagogue services. I am not Jewish, but many of my friends are, and I have enjoyed celebrating Hanukkah with them. It was fun to revisit the holiday and to hear a little more about it, although this was one of the areas where I hoped for more.
As is often the case with collections by multiple authors, the quality of the stories varies very widely. Most of these authors have a solid record of publications and awards, but I was disappointed in the writing. I did not finish three of them, which is highly unusual for me. I read a LOT of crime fiction and am accustomed to the inclusion of a fair amount of sex and colloquial or off-color language, but it seemed to be excessive in a number of the stories. One story even provoked me to write a note in my book, “pornography!” I also am not especially fond of protagonists who are just plain not nice people, like the obnoxious woman who BRAGGED about her fake handicapped parking tag.
It seemed to me that the stories got better as the book progressed, and I am thinking of looking for some books by Tod Goldberg and Jim Ruland, the last two authors. So if the concept appeals to you and you want to experience Eight Very Bad Nights, go ahead and DNF any that do not appeal but go on reading. They saved the best for last.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Edelweiss and Soho Crime

[Meems · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites were “If I Were a Rich Man” and “Not a Dinner Party Person.” 💀

[Leah M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The market is oversaturated with Christmas stories, in all genres, yet more come out each year. I have only seen a handful of Chanukah-themed stories and they seem to come from the romance genre. Seeing a collection billed as Hannukah noir with plenty of humor had me thrilled to start this.

This collection sounded much better in theory than it was in practice. By far, my biggest disappointment was that the majority of the stories had only a passing reference to Hanukkah or even the season. I was expecting there to be more of an emphasis on the holiday itself, and having it relate to the story in some way. Instead, the references to Hanukkah had no impact on most of the stories besides a passing mention.

I could have lived with that, but most of the stories didn’t really grip me. I’m aware of the fact that it is hard to fully develop a mystery as a short story, but both pacing and quality of the stories were inconsistent. Additionally, I was disappointed in the narration choices—none of the narrators that came across Hebrew words sounded natural saying them, and I couldn’t help but wish that the narrators chosen had some Jewish representation to them.

There were a few stories that I did like. Mi Shebeirach and Shamash come to mind, and it isn’t much of a surprise to see that those were the ones with the most connection to Judaism. A mi shebeirach is a blessing for someone to heal, and the shamash is the ‘helper candle’ that is used to light all the other candles.

For most of the stories in the book, I had a hard time connecting with them and getting invested, and some were significantly slower paced than others. One felt like little more than thinly veiled pornography, and this is coming from someone who is relatively hard to shock. I found the differences in quality throughout the collection a bit jarring. Overall, this wasn’t the Hanukkah noir collection that I have been dreaming of, but it did introduce me to some new authors that I haven’t heard of before.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all multi-author collections this is a mixed bag in terms of quality, but on the whole it’s a solid collection and worth a read.

It’s nice to see a Hanukkah collection at the holidays, though I’ll caution that most of these stories are only very loosely tied to the holiday and most of them have little to no holiday atmosphere. I’m also not sure I’d call it a noir collection, but rather a more general catch-all like Crime.

Not a Dinner Party Person by Stefanie Leder is by far the most fun and clever story in the book, a delightfully macabre account of a sociopath who has absolutely had it with her sister’s awful partner.

Also worth a read: Johnny Christmas, If I Were a Rich Man, Mi Shebeirach, Dead Weight, and Very Bad Nights.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a unique book idea, so happy to see a Chanukah offering that is not a romance! I think my favorite stories were Mi Shebeirach, Dead Weight, and Not a Dinner Party Person. Like any anthology, all the stories won’t work for all readers, but I think everyone who likes dark reading content will find something they like here, especially if you are a fan of crime thrillers. One quibble: there were a couple of stories where Chanukah felt like an afterthought, like maybe the story was already written and Chanukah was added in later for the purposes of the book theme? But hey I am happy that anyone is remembering Chanukah at all so thank you to all of the authors for participating in this anthology.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Some of these stories were so bleak and miserable, if they'd been any longer, I'd have walked away. Some were good but ended suddenly and reminded me why I'm not a fan of short stories. I should stick with what I like.

Also, very little Hanukkah was in these stories. It seemed more of a coincidence than anything tying them together.

[madeline jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

more of a 3.5 overall but a super fun time, i picked this up as j.r. angelella (who wrote mi shebeirach in the book) was a professor and mentor of mine in undergrad, not shocking but his story was my favorite in the anthology, overall i really enjoyed this and as a jew its so fun to see fiction about my traditions

[BookSinArt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started: 12.16.25
Finished: 12.17.25
~Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir by Various Authors | #audiobook
~Narrated by: Johnny Heller, Emily Lawrence, Robb Moreira, Jasmin Walker
#JayBookSin2025Boal Book.150
#MJRA

Synopsis: Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of 11 delightful & twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights.
This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of Hanukkah noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Festival of Lights.
Includes stories by Ivy Pochoda, David L. Ulin, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg.

SynopSin: Hanukkah noir? Yes, please!
You never know what you’re going to get with an anthology/short story collection. But truly enjoyed this Hanukkah-themed crime noir. There’s wit, humor, fun, Manischewitz, and enjoyable unique stories. Mazel tov, on a great anthology!
Def highly rec it.

JBSR: 🕎🕎🕎🕎
Johnny Christmas by Pochoda 📚📚📚
Shamash by Ulin 📚📚📚
Twenty Centuries by Hannah 📚📚📚📚
If I Were a Rich Man by L. Goldberg 📚📚📚📚
Come Let Us Kiss and Part by Dolson 📚📚📚📚
Mi Shebeirach by Angelella 📚📚📚📚📚
Dead Weight by Jacobs 📚📚📚📚📚
Lighting the Remora by 📚📚1/2
Not a Dinner Party Person by Leder 📚📚📚📚📚
The Demo by Iglesias 📚📚📚
Eight Very Bad Nights by T. Goldberg 📚📚📚📚

Audio: 📚📚📚📚📚

#booksinart73 #staybookedhappyreading #keepturningpages #booknerd #bookworm #bookdragon #booksquirrel #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookthreads #booktok

Instagram: BookSin.Art19

[GҽɱɱαSM · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3*
Una antologia que subverteix la simbologia de Hanukkah per obrir una finestra a vuit històries de crim i fracàs. On hauría d'haver-hi llum i celebració, aquesta antologia de noir contemporani instal·la l'ombra, l'atzar funest i les decisions que condueixen al desastre. Les vuit nits esdevenen el marc perfecte per a un desfil de personatges marcats per la culpa i la mala sort, atrapats en espirals de violència quotidiana i moralitat esquerdada.

Amb tons que van del sarcasme fosc a la tragèdia seca, l'antologia ofereix una mirada diversa però coherent sobre la violència quotidiana i les esquerdes morals. Cada conte, signat per una veu destacada del gènere, té personalitat pròpia, però tots comparteixen una mateixa ombra de desesperança. En conjunt, és una lectura àgil, punyent i sense cap concessió al confort.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not into light holiday reads (or Christmas in general, to be honest), so I was absolutely delighted by the concept of this collection. As with many anthologies, it was a mixed bag, and some of the stories ended in a way that felt very unfinished. I don’t mind a cliffhanger or deliberately ambiguous ending, but some of these felt like the author got to a certain word count and called it a day. However, there were also some standouts that I loved, and I will be looking into further work from those authors. Recommend as a holiday season palate cleanser if you, like me, are not someone who can unironically sing along to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." 3.5, rounding up a little for the concept.

[Corinne’s Chapter Chatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this as Jewish fiction doesn’t get the exposure that Christian stories do especially around the holidays. I became quickly disappointed when all the stories weren’t actually about Hannukah or were only very loosely tied. This falls with the person who complied this, Tod Goldberg. I think a real disservice to the title and description of the book was done.

The stories quality was also really uneven story to story. In any anthology you’re going to like some more than others. That’s to be expected but this was beyond that. I also didn’t realize I was going to be getting as much smut as I got.

So while I’m not going to go out of my way to tell people about it o so think it has value purely because of a lack of other anthologies available on this topic..sort of.


I will say the best part of the book was the intro by Tod Goldberg which was cheeky and a nice laugh.


I am thankful to have gotten an audio ALC for free from Netgalley and Recorded books to enjoy which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

[TheNextGenLibrarian]

An anthology filled with twisted Hanukkah Noir stories by Tod Goldberg.
🕎
This unique collection features stories to make you laugh, and set the vibe for noir stories that highlight the Festival of Lights. Many authors contributed to this story collection
🕎
I took a film noir class in college and these stories sent me right back to that time. This genre isn’t written about enough and it was such a treat to read it with the Hanukkah holiday taking the main stage in SOME of the stories, not all. In addition to that, some of the stories didn’t work for me, which can be the case with story collections. Thanks @libro.fm for the ALC.

CW: violence, grief, murder, death

[Davida Chazan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 Stars. Crime and thrillers aren't usually my thing, but to have a bunch of short stories in this genre about Hanukkah, instead of some mushy romance, is a breath of fresh air. My full review is on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2024/11/0...

[Rachel Brackett · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of seasonal Hannukkah criminal fiction. Some stories are better than others but I had fun reading them. Narrators were fantastic. I enjoyed how much they added to the stories.

I received an arc from Netgalley and the publisher.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this anthology for what it was. Some hit, some missed. Overall, a fun romp around some naughty characters around Hanukah time.

[Paula Korelitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this collection of short stories gets better, but after reading 142 pages, I gave up. Yes they are a collection of Noir short stories, but if the authors are theoretically using Hanukkah as the basis for this collection, someone should let them know that matzah and gefilte fish are not foods for this holiday! Get your Jewish holidays straight, or don't use that as Jewish traditions as the connecting theme.

[Amanda Sheff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was unfortunately a big disappointment. Most of the stories had a lot of set up to very meh endings. I also wanted it to be more relevant to Jewish culture or Hanukkah! Mentioning Hanukkah once does not make something a Hanukkah story.